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irspeed: 350 knots/0.88 Mach number; altitude: 29,000 feet; attitude: 80° right bank, 10° nose down.
Radar Intercept Officer (RIO): What a clear, beautiful day. Haven’t seen it this nice in a long time. Would like to get a closer look at that probable commercial air traffic on the radar. Lean in so I can see the display. [EXPLOSION! DEAFENING ROAR!] What the .. . ? Never heard anything so loud before! Something just brushed by the right side of my neck. Wind blast! Can’t hear anything! Max confusion!
Pilot: We’re still flying. What happened to the canopy? Right shoulder hurts. No Plexiglas left in the canopy clamshell, forward windscreens severely cracked or broken. Idle power, extend speed brakes to slow us in preparation for ejection—350 knots. No sign of Grundy in the mirrors. Aft stick, forward stick, right, left, rudder... the airplane is still responding to control inputs.
Boost the canopy closed to keep it from leaving the airplane, command-eject still in RIO, no fire lights, hydraulics okay. Still no sign of Grundy in the mirrors; he must be unconscious—or worse. I’ll safe the upper ejection seat handle so it’s not pulled out by the airstream. Whoa! Wind blast is not going to help my good arm. Boldface procedures complete. Let’s continue this descent and turn toward the Ike.
RIO: Okay, think. The canopy must have come off. A!(1 my portion of the canopy is still here, but the front p<$ is gone—smashed? Altitude: 26,500 feet; airspeed: 311- knots; fuel: 13.9 thousand pounds. Gotta lower the sN and get out of the wind blast. Try the intercom. “Reb, hav‘ you got it?” No response. “Reb, have you got the jet?’
It was Thursday, 13 November 1991, a bright, sum1) afternoon in the Central Arabian Gulf. The crew of Dako1' 205, assigned to Navy Fighter Squadron 142, Carrier A|( Wing Seven, was embarked and operating from the DwigP D. Eisenhower. Their check flight was one of only tv^ squadron sorties scheduled that day. Two aircraft werC launched, the other flown by the Skipper. To get soib training out of the hop, an intercept by 205 was briefs for the end of the flight, as the CO came inbound to tb ship on the high-altitude, supersonic portion of his chec' flight. Grundy and Reb attended the U.S. Naval AcadeO1' together, graduating in 1980, and had flown together several months in their first squadron. They were g°°“ friends looking forward to an enjoyable flight.
RIO: Seat down, hand on the ejection handle. Altitud1' 24,500 feet; airspeed still hovering around 300. We 11 still in an ejection envelope, but for how long? Is Reb ft _ ing this thing or is it flying him? I’ll leave command ejf, in RIO just in case I have to get us both out. Gotta t0'\ to Reb. “Reb, how do you hear me?” Nothing. Try $
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ship! How did my knee board get down around my ankle? Strike, Dakota 205. How do you read?” No one’s talk- 1n8 today.
Time for a peek forward. Wind blast isn't too bad! ^ee more damage though. All the forward windscreen and barter panels are missing or smashed. What s Reb doing ! St‘ll above 20,000 feet, airspeed 300 knots. Appear to be 'n a descending spiral. Hand on the handle. Is he really ^ng the jet? His head’s moving! He’s scanning the hori- *-°n! He’s flying it!
•Slot: 20,000 feet, 250 knots, keep it coming down—not Quite that much! Have to keep us as slow as possible. Wind blast isn’t too bad at 200 knots; my vision should stait ^proving now. Besides, they flew at these speeds in open c°ckpits in World War I, right? Still, keep the attitude adjustments small in case we lose the flight controls as this Iet continues to come apart.
Explosion, canopy glass gone . . . look at that windScreen! No angle of attack [AOA] What could cause
1111 explosion that would destroy the canopy like this? No ulea, but the loss of the AOA probe [mounted forward of !be intakes] means at least one damaged motor. I d bet °n both of them taking some hits. Gotta love the FllOen- Pnes though—still chugging along with no fluctuations
1.1 the engine instruments.
^0: Still descending nicely. Immediate action emergency l>r°cedures say to safe the upper ejection handle might He vent inadvertent ejection from the wind blast. Right (l,ui up along the side of the headrest and push the tab. C,°t it! Turn off the radar—don’t need it, and there’s no \ec>son to risk damaging it. Getting chilly now. Wonder lTReb can talk to the ship? I can see his face in the front Errors now. He doesn ’t look pretty.
/Hot: Okay, let’s assess what we've got here. Dull pain
1.1 ltl}' right shoulder; can’t do much of anything but move b,e stick. Eyesight cloudy—wipe some of this out of my eyes. Great. . . glass . . . and blood. Should we divert? ^ohrain is more than 100 miles away, and we are NORDO
radio]—still no response from the Mayday call I made. Plenty of gas—12,300 pounds. Let’s get to a lower alti- ,ltde and see if this thing is flyable in approach configuration. We may have to eject alongside the ship as we lrty up. Better tighten up these lap restraints.
^O: Aviate, navigate, communicate. Twenty miles north °hthe ship. Reb appears to be bringing us back to the Ike. fln’t do much more for now in the aviate department.
spiraling down. Try the ship again. Strike, Dakota 05.” Can’t hear a thing over the roar. Switch radio fre- toencies to the tower. Still nothing. Get the emergency E transponder squawk on.
. Still descending. Prepare for ejection if the pilot doesn t Pel off soon. Okay, nose is coming up. Looking good, loathe again. Fuel state still looks good. Reb changed Js radio to the tower also! I guess he elected to head bc,Qk to the ship. That’s my vote. Feeling better about lis- Lots of blood on Reb’s face. Gonna need medics as soon as we get this thing on the deck.
The radome had separated from the aircraft at approximately 29,000 feet during a right-hand turn, 0.88 Mach number, slightly nose low at 4G. It rotated on the hinge attached to its top, came over the top of the airplane and slapped the canopy, shattering the glass in the forward half of the clamshell and severely damaging the forward windscreens. It knocked off the center rear view mirror, which hit the pilot’s oxygen mask and helmet, separating the hose from the mask and destroying the helmet’s right mask attachment fitting. Another object hit the pilot’s chest and right arm, fracturing his clavicle. The remains of the radome and radar passed down the spine of the Tomcat and between the twin tails. Debris flew into the rear cockpit, causing minor abrasions to the RIO's neck and embedding itself in the rear ejection seat headrest.
Unfortunately, the pilot had raised his visor a few seconds before the impact, to clear the area of other aircraft before completing the intercept. The radome actually separated from the jet as he raised his hand to lower the visor.
Pilot: The airplane is actually flying fairly well. Let’s put some of that Test Pilot School training to work and sort this out. Wonder how Grundy’s doing? Still no movement back there. 12,000 feet. Let’s decelerate slowly and dirty up. Will the gear come down? If 1 have to blow it down, we are committed to a dirty bingo [emergency divert], but we have plenty of gas. Three down and locked—amazing. How about the flaps? Incredible! Fully down, no split flaps; all spoilers working normally. What are the chances that direct lift control will work?' I can't believe it! Things are beginning to look up, but can I fly the ball? My vision is still not great even with the reduced wind blast. Left eye vision is pretty’ good; right eye . . . can’t see anything out of it. Let's get a closer look in the mirror. Great, a piece of glass protruding from my eye! I guess I can close out my logbook for good after this flight. Can I recover this airplane with only one good eye?
The pilot had multiple lacerations on his face, glass in both eyes, and quite a bit of pain in the right eye each time he blinked. Actually, there were no large pieces of glass in his eye; the cornea had been lacerated by the debris, and the iris had prolapsed, which caused it to stretch until he had no pupil and therefore no vision in the right eye.
Both crewman were pleasantly surprised that the airplane transitioned to the approach configuration normally. The RIO remained prepared for a quick ejection. His ability to see gear and flap indications in the front seat was limited by the wind blast. He had to listen and “feel” the gear and flaps lower. The pilot was not willing to attempt a no-flap carrier approach and fully expected to eject because of a flight control malfunction as he dropped the gear and flaps.
Pilot: How does this thing fly? Pretty well, actually! Unable to trim it up hands off, but controllability is good. Let's slow up to on-speed. Great, the airspeed indicator
on-speed. He set 3,400 pounds per side, which was af proximately 100 pounds per side greater than required’ maximum trap (carrier landing) weight in the aircraft ^ current configuration. However, the corrections require from even moderate deviations during the approach woul force him to start the approach again, because he had a way to close the loop and reestablish on-speed AOA one he had deviated.
is bouncing between 80 knots and 160 knots. Guess there’s some damage to that probe also. Well, I know how much power we need to maintain on-speed. Set 4,200 pounds per side [fuel flow in pounds per hour per engine] and see what that gives us. On second thought, make it 4,800 pounds per side, to give us a little gravy. Quick call to the ship. Still no answer. No wonder, my oxygen hose and electrical connections are sitting in my lap. Can I hook them up? I need two hands, I’m at 3,000feet, and I can’t trim this thing up hands off. Guess this one will have to be NORDO.
RIO: Things are slowing down now. Have I covered all my responsibilities? Gotta make sure everything is taken care of. Double check the instruments. Hope Reb ’s okay. He's flying the jet well. Take it one minute at a time.
Pilot: Near on-speed now. Longitudinal trim is about right, power set, and it flies pretty nicely. Seem to have full control authority. Let’s start a descent—about ten miles from the Ike now. Can I make large enough control inputs with this shoulder to wave off? Yep.
Still plenty of gas for a gear-down divert. NORDO, blind right eye, injured shoulder, no canopy, no airspeed, no AOA. Not the best of situations to come aboard the boat. On the other hand, I probably have two fodded engines and an unconscious RIO, I’m NORDO with more than 120 nautical miles of water between me and the nearest civilian field, with unknown damage to the airplane, unknown medical facilities, and no way to get a visual inspection or to communicate with anyone who does join on us. Would the airplane make it that far? Fortunately, I have more than 12,000 pounds of fuel, with a max trap fuel state of 8,000 pounds. I could get a couple looks at the deck and still bingo at low altitude with plenty of fuel.
Actually, the condition of the airplane and the RIO would have surprised the pilot at this point. He was fairly sure the RIO was seriously injured, since he had not seen the command eject window go from RIO to pilot, as required in the boldface procedures for loss of canopy. He also had seen no movement in the back seat—just two sets of straps fully extended from the inertial reels. The RIO’s injuries were insignificant—he had been leaning forward to view the radar scope and the majority of the debris had missed him. The RIO left the command eject lever in RIO to be able to eject both crewmen if necessary. Amazingly, neither engine was damaged.
By this time the ship had received the emergency IFF signal from the stricken Tomcat and was attempting to communicate with Dakota 205. They vectored the Skipper toward 205, but time did not allow for a rendezvous.
The pilot concluded that the approach could only be flown with very small corrections. Since the crew had no airspeed or AOA, the pilot had to reference his power setting, longitudinal trim, and stick force to maintain on- speed. Fortunately, longitudinal trim is a reasonable indicator of angle of attack at a constant gross weight with wings level. The pilot’s normal pattern was to reference power setting to establish the aircraft on glide path and
Pilot: We’ve got to let the ship know we’re out here. dirty pass at 300 feet up the port side of the ship shoU> do it. Let’s just hope they see that my canopy glass is mb' ing. Rock the wings, cycle the throttles—try to tell thei we’re NORDO. Turn downwind. Can’t see anyone the LSO [landing signal officer] platform. Dump a litd fuel, re-check that landing checklist. Three nautical mb1 on the downwind leg, time to turn to the final bearing The ship is turning into the wind! Looks like they ’ll g’ us a shot at a landing.
RIO: There’s the ship! Never wanted to be on board tl’1 Ike so badly in all my life. Altitude: 1,000feet; airspei- fluctuating wildly around 200 knots—something wro”: with the indicator. Reb has dumped down to 8,500 pounds I guess this is it. Passing down the side of the ship. Is Rd talking to the tower? Noise is less deafening now at d11 slower airspeed. There! Was that Paddles [the LSO effl sign] on the radio? Squeeze the sides of my helmet to hN1 better. YES! “Paddles, Dakota 205.”
Ship: “This is Paddles. Go ahead 205.”
The ship knew something was wrong with Dako[; 205. The aircraft was squawking emergency and flig^1 deck personnel saw the plane do a low flyby. The sh'f immediately began to clear the deck and prepare for $ emergency landing. No one on deck could see the mis5' ing canopy glass but they did see the radome missing They knew the aircraft was in trouble and wanted to te‘ cover. LSOs were called to the platform, aircraft wef£ cleared from the landing area, and all nonessential pef sonnel left the flight deck.
RIO: Explain the situation to the LSOs. Lost the fro’11 part of the canopy. Visibility out the front limited. Pil° appears to have lost all communications. This ain 't sound ing good. Gonna be hard to land this one. Canopy goP1' no radio, airspeed inaccurate, marginal visibility, no an?}' of attack indicator. “Tower, 205, request medical pef sonnel to stand by on the flight deck.”
Ship: “Roger 205.”
RIO: Try to get Reb's attention. Stick your hand in tl’1 wind blast. He still doesn ’t see me. The LSOs say the de®, will be ready shortly.
Ship: 205, Paddles. How’s your airspeed?
RIO: Now why would they ask about the fluctuating o’1
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The flight deck is ready for Us- Gotta tell Reb. Point at the S^P- He sees me in the mir- r°r- A thumbs up. Is the gear down? Feels like it. A peek °Ver the console into the Pilot’s cockpit confirms it. Hook is down. Okay, Reb, it s UP to you.
*lot: Okay, three miles, drifting a little left set 322 eading. Fresnel lens in on. Pretty good visual acuity. ^°od glide path. Check power. Should be about 2-4 knots ^st■ Small adjustments, now. 2.5 miles, 1,000feet mean Seo level. Looking good. Instrument landing system az- l^fth needle drifting back to the left—bring it back to 0°. On glide path, on centerline. 2.0 miles. Transition the HUD [head-up display]. 800 feet. Looking good. ,fl speed. On and on at 1.5 miles, 600 feet. Cross check ,e VDI [aircraft attitude display] needles on center- <tle- Poke your head farther into the wind. Can still see e landing area. Back to the needles—on and on at 1.0 ^tle. No wave-off lights yet. Heading 320°. The Ike 5 e°ding is rock solid. Three quarters of a mile. There s u fhsh of the cut lights for a roger ball. . . ball centered, Power 3400 pounds per side. Throttles matched, check tj!°se needles. One half mile, still on glide path. Ball, "feuP, angle of attack. Keep that scan going. Remember fe burble. No wave-off lights. Flash of the cut lights liSO signaling for a little power], over the ramp, don’t °P the nose in the wires. Touchdown! Full power,
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copter plane guard crew noted a large number of sharks and poisonous sea snakes in the water that afternoon), and the ship was absolutely predictable throughout the recovery. They flew two invaluable practice approaches as the Ike turned into the wind, allowing them to fine tune the piloting techniques for the third and final pass. The pilot used both the HUD and attitude display’s instrument landing system needles at different times in the approach to give him the best opportunity to see the landing area through the remnants of the windscreens.
After landing, the pilot was medevaced to the International Hospital of Bahrain, where a civilian doctor sewed up the three millimeter cut in his eye. The RIO received a bottle of aftershave to soothe the glass cuts on his neck.
Editor’s Note: A similar version of this account appeared in the October 1992 Approach magazine. Normally the Naval Institute does not publish material that has appeared elsewhere, but because of the content and an early mis- communication, we made an exception in this case.
'Direct lift control allows the pilot to increase or decrease the glide path of the F- 14 on an approach through actuation of the spoilers via a control stick mounted thumbwheel. It compensates for excessive airplane pitch inertia when dirty and thereby reduces pilot workload during an approach.
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^though the crew had their share of misfortune on this !%ht, they were extremely fortunate on several counts. 1)6 airplane was still flyable (lucky, because the heli
Lieutenant Commander Edwards, a 1980 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, currently is assigned to J-3 of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has more than 2,600 total hours, 650 arrested landings, and has flown more than 25 different types of aircraft. Lieutenant Commander Grund- meier, also a 1980 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, currently is a student at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas